Amy Alzina, MA ’02, EdD, believes in the power of public education. Driven by a desire to make an impact in the lives of students and communities, Alzina’s leadership of Cold Spring School District (CSSD) was recognized when she received the 2024 Superintendent/Principal of the Year Award from the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA). While she was honored by the accolade, Alzina credits her dedicated team who have pushed Cold Spring to new heights. “What’s magical about Cold Spring and the other schools I’ve led is that I’ve been fortunate enough to build a strong team of parents that don’t only want their child to succeed, they know that their child does better when everyone succeeds,” Alzina said. “It’s truly special to have parents and community members come alongside our staff to help our kids reach their full potential.”
Originally from Scotia, a small town in Northern California, Alzina realized she wanted to become an educator one day after the impact her kindergarten teacher, Suzzane Silvers, had on her. Alzina became the first member of her family to go to college, supported by a track and field and cross country scholarship at Westmont, where she majored in liberal studies and minored in kinesiology. After graduating, Alzina was recruited to fill a physical education position at a new school, the Santa Barbara Community Academy (SBCA), hired with an emergency teaching credential. “I fell in love with teaching the kids right away,” she said. The school wanted to keep Alzina on, but she needed to get her full credential as quickly as possible.
Wanting to continue teaching during the day, Alzina sought a graduate school that offered night classes. She heard about Azusa Pacific University’s satellite campus located at the time in Ventura. “I was originally just planning on getting an education credential,” she said. “I thought I was a poor writer, so I didn’t think I had what it took to complete a full master’s program, but APU’s program director told me he believed in my potential.” For three years, Alzina taught PE during the day, then drove to Ventura for her master’s classes at night. She earned a multiple subject and an administration credential, along with two master’s degrees in education and educational leadership and administration.
In her APU classes, Alzina not only grew as a writer, but as a leader who supported the social emotional needs of her students. She appreciated that her classmates were veteran teachers who had rich teaching experience and knew the right questions to ask their instructors. “The thing I’m most grateful for in my APU education is that I wasn’t treated like just a number. The faculty and administration were not just going through the motions, and I know that is not true of every college.” she said. “They truly cared about me and wanted me to succeed.” Alzina’s professors also instilled a newfound confidence about her writing and leadership capabilities, which proved pivotal down the road when she got her doctorate.
After teaching PE for two years, Alzina transitioned to teaching fifth grade for a year, then kindergarten for three years, and finally first grade for a year. Although she loved teaching in the classroom, Alzina was encouraged by her fellow faculty to go into administration. Her school had gone through a lot of admin turnover, and needed leadership stability. “My mentors Isabella Hernandez and Roberta Ortega, two veteran teachers who had taught for far longer than I had, as well as the rest of the staff, asked me to step up as their principal,” Alzina said. “I didn’t know if I could do it, but they said they would support me, and they did. Not many people have the opportunity to lead a school where all the teachers ask for you. That meant a lot to me.” Alzina became SBCA’s principal at just 29-years-old and led the school for the next three years.
After leading SBCA, Alzina became principal of another school in the community, Adams Elementary. While SBCA had achieved great success, Adams had fallen into disrepair. Many local residents did not want to send their kids to Adams, and Alzina saw it as an opportunity to transform the school.
Alzina created a culture of excellence with relationship driven teachers and administration who made their students feel seen and valued. The school began providing opportunities for self discovery and hands-on learning. Among the achievements she is most proud of, Alzina noted creating a bike program to teach kids how to ride a bike and allowing them to ride bikes during recess, taking students to the YMCA so they could learn how to swim, and investing in robust music, drama, and art programs. “I believe in a whole child approach to learning. Nobody remembers the worksheet they did in school,” she laughed. “We remember our experiences. I think the disconnect most school districts have is that they have great experiences, but they’re not aligned to the standards.” Alzina set out to align fun art and PE experiences to California’s standards. “We had an all hands on deck approach of creating fantastic experiences with community members that allowed our kids to master standards while enjoying coming to school each day.”
After eight years at Adams, Alzina became superintendent/principal of CSSD, a single school district with about 200 students ranging from TK (transitional kindergarten) to sixth grade. “When I applied, I only thought I’d be here for a few years, before I moved to a bigger school district,” she said, “but I feel like I’m able to have a big impact here.” Alzina’s leadership has led CSSD to have an exemplary 6 percent chronic absenteeism rate, far below California’s average of 30 percent. “It’s so nice to hear when students say they don’t want to miss school because they’re going to work on a cool project in class that day.” Alzina attributes much of her success to having a supportive school board who stays out of the management lane and allows her to lead. The board helped her land opportunities to serve on the Board of Directors for both California’s Small School District Association and the Association of California School Administrators. “That fills my tank, knowing that I get to have an impact at the state and community level.”
While Adams had been underperforming for years when Alzina arrived, CSSD already had great numbers, with near 80 percent proficiency in ELA, math, and science. However, Alzina was not satisfied with these rates. “I firmly believe that no matter what school district I’m in, regardless of the socioeconomic status or amount of English language learner or special education students we have, that we can achieve 100 percent proficiency in California’s standards,” she said. With this lofty goal in mind, Alzina began implementing practices of using student data to drive instruction and motivate student learning. “I’m very proud to say that last year, we hit 99 percent proficiency in ELA, 98 percent in math, and 97 percent in science.” CSSD also has 87 percent of students who are exceeding state standards in ELA and 72 percent who are exceeding standards in math, massive increases compared to when she arrived, and far and above the state average.
My calling is to show what’s possible in public education. I believe in coming together as a community to meet the needs of our kids. Together we make great things happen.
Outside of work, Alzina loves spending time with her family, including her daughter, a Loyola Marymount student, and son, a junior at Santa Barbara High School. She balances being a dedicated servant leader at her school with being a loving mom. She also knows she has only gotten to where she is in life because of her faith. “My faith is everything to me. It hasn’t been an easy road, but when times get tough, I pray to God to give me strength,” Alzina said. “I strive to follow His will for my life. I have immense gratitude, waking up each morning grateful for the life and gifts He has given me. I know that God will never leave me and we can do anything together.”